Insulator-supporting means



Oct. 1, 1929. E. w. BRADY INSULATQR SUPPORTING umms Filed Jan. 21. 1928 Patented 0st. 1, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDMUND W. BRADY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE BRADY ELECTRIC 8c MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT INSULATOR-QUPPORTING MEANS Application filed January 21, 1928.

My invention relates to an insulator supporting means, and more especially to an insulating supporting means in the form of a metallic cob adapted to be mounted on a pin, bolt, bracket, or the like, and provided with a threaded portion upon which the insulator is received.

It is the usual practice to support electric power line wires, telegraph or telephone wires, on insulators made of glass or porcelain, or other materials, having high dielectric properties, the usual form of insulator being provided with an internal threaded portion in which the insulator supporting means is received. Of the latter, the most common types are wooden pins having upper threaded ends for receiving the insulators, the pins being attached to cross-arms, which are usually made of wood, or to such other supports as may be desirable or available. These wooden pins are subject to the usual deficiencies of wood, such as rotting, shrinkage, etc., and are not adapted to be'used in a great many situations. Especially, is this true where the wooden cross-arms are replaced by metallic cross-arms of L-shape or other cross-sectional forms, and where it is desired to support the insulators on metallic brackets, etc.

Various attempts have been made to r place the usual wooden insulator supporting means by metallic forms which, however, have had serious defects of their own, making them not much more desirable than the wooden pins. For example, it is almost impossible to make insulators in which the interior threads are of uniform or standard diameters. When insulators having internal threads of smaller diameter than the standard diameter are forced onto substantially rigid metallic supports, they are quite apt to become broken, whereas if the threaded openings are too large they are apt to be loosely supported. Another serious objection to many forms of metallic supports which have heretofore been proposed resides in the fact that insulators are quite often subjected to great changes in temperature, which, owing to the fact that the material forming the supports has a greater eoelficient of expansion.

Serial No. 248,418.

than glass or porcelain, results in the breakage of the insulators, particularly if the insulators are suddenly cooled. Thus, it quite often happens that insulators become broken in the summer-time when the insulators have become heated by the action of the sun thereon, and are suddenly cooled by a shower of rain. This breakage usually results from the fact that the insulating supporting means is protected by the insulator from the effects of the ram, and remains at a much higher temperature than the insulator, while the latter is cooled by the effects of the rain.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a metallic insulator support which is suitable for use in connection with pins, bolts, brackets, etc, and which, while relatively simple and cheap to manufacture, provides a strong support for the insulator without, however, any liability of damage to the latter.

In a more specific aspect, the invention contemplates a metallic cob which may be attached to a pin, bolt, or any other usual or suitable form of support, and a novel means for attaching the cob to the pin, bolt, etc.

Another object of the invention is in the provision of a metallic support for insulators upon which insulators having the usual and expected variations in'the diameters of their threads may be received, without any danger of mutilation to the insulator or its supporting means.

As a further object, the invention contemplates an insulator supporting means capable of taking care of contractions or expansions on the part of the insulator without any danger of the latter becoming broken.

An additional object of the invention resides in a novel manner of supporting the cob on a pin, etc, wherein force may be applied to the end of the pin to drive it into a hole, or for similar purposes, without any. danger of the cob becoming multilated.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the novel features and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 anelevational view showing a pre ferred form of my invention having an insulator supported thereon;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the cob with its supporting means removed;

Fig. 1 is a view along line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a view along line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are views of various modifications; and

Fig. 9 is a bottom view of the modification shown in Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings in which I have shown some preferred embodiments of my invention, and particularly to Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, the reference numeral 10 indicates a pin or screw having supported on the upper end thereof a metallic cob 11 provided with threads 12, which are received within the threaded opening 13 of insulator 14, which may be of any usual or preferred type.

Generally speaking, the body of the cob 11 is divided longitudinally into two spaced apart threaded portions 15 and 16 which may be pressed out of sheet material, and the threads rolled, pressed, or otherwise provided therein, and which are supported on the pin 10 at spaced points opposite their ends. The body of the cob is tapered in order to provide for a tight engagement with the threads of the insulator, and in order to take care of variations in the sizes of the threaded openings of the insulators, as well as to permit the latter to expand and contract, the inner surfaces of the body portions 15 and 16 are spaced outwardly from the pin, or other sup porting means 10, as shown in Fig. 2, while the adjacent longitudinal edges of these portions are spaced from one another, as shown in Fig. 3. The arrangement is such that the portions 15 and 16 may be displaced inwardly by the insulator, but are maintained in tight contact therewith due to the inherent resiliency of the material from which the cob is formed, together with the manner in which it is supported on the pin.

In order to support the cob on the pin 10, there is provided at one end of the cob a wall 17 integrally formed with respect to, and interconnecting, body portions 15 and 16, end wall 17 being provided with a noncircular opening 18, adapted to receive and embrace therein a similarly shaped portion 19 of pin 10, while at the opposite end of t is cob are overlapping walls 20 and 21 connected to the portions 15 and 16, respectively, walls 20 and 21 each being provided with an opening 22, in which the pin or other sup porting means 10 is received.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, the interconnecting integrally formed wall 17 is at the upper end of the cob, and is provided with a square opening in which square end of the pin 10 is received, while the exposed portion of the square end of the pin 10 above wall 17 is upset or peened over to form head 23, which prevents the cob from being displaced outwardly from the pin, while inward displacement of the cob is prevented by shoulder 2 1- on pin 10, shoulder 24 being immediately below the square end 19. In order to prevent rotational displacement or twisting of the lower end of the cob on pin 10, but at the same time to provide for some longitudinal movement of this end of the cob, the pin 10 is provided with diametrically opposite lugs 25 and 26, which are received in recesses 27 and 28 formed in walls 20 and 21.

According to the preferred form disclosed herein, the end wall 17 is connected to the ends of body portions 15 and 16, through a portion of their circumferences only, while the remainders of the ends of portions 15 and 16 are spaced slightly from the wall 17, as shown at 29, 30, 31 and 32. It is within the spirit of the invention to have the ends of portions 15 and 16 connected to wall 17 throughout their circumferences, butthe particular arrangement shown is preferred, however, owing to the fact that the interruption of the connection between the end portions of the cob body and the wall 17 greatly as .s

in bringing about a more resilient cob body.

It will be re. dily understood that the upset portion or head 25 of pin 10 provides a means whereby the pin 10 may be driven into a post or the like.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, the bot y portions 33 and 34 are connected together at their lower ends by an integrally formed wall 35, and at their upper ends are provided with overlapping walls 36 and 37, while in the modification shown in Fig. 7, the body portions 38 and 39 are provided with overlapping walls 10 and 11 at their lower ends, and overlapping walls 12 and 13 at their opposite or upper ends. The medification shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is quite similar to that shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, except that one of the overlapping end walls has been replaced by a tongue 44 integrally formed with respect to the body portion 45 and passing through an opening in the end wall 46 connected to the body portion 47, the exposed end of the tongue 44 being bent over to secure the body portion 15 to the end wall 46. These modifications may be mounted on the pin or screw 10 in much the same manner that the cob 11 is mounted. thereon.

From the above-description of the invention it will be readily understood that I have provided an insulator supporting n'ieans which while having the necessary strength and rigidity for efliciently supporting the weight of wires, cables, or such other means as may be secured to the insulators, is, nevertheless, resilient to a suliicient extent to permit the reception thereon of insulators having a considerable variation in the size of the threaded openings provided therein, and which will permit the normal expansions and contractions of the insulator to take place withoutany danger of the latter being tractured.

While I have shown a form of supporting element for the cob in which threads are provided for mounting the element on a sup port, it will be readily understood that the invention is not limited to this particular type of supporting element, and it will also be understood that, it desired, other forms of insulator engaging surfaces may be provided on the cob body in place of the threads shown.

It will be further understood that while I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the same is not to be lin'iited to all the details shown but is capable of modifications and variations within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an insulator support, a thimble adapted to receive an insulator thereon, and a supporting element for said thimble, said thimble comprising a body portion spaced from said element, and means at the ends of the body portion for connecting said port-ion to the element, the connecting means at both ends oi said thimble body preventing rotational displacement of the body portion on the supporting element and lateral separation therefrom, and the means at one end of the body portion permitting longitudinal movement of that end on the supporting element.

2. In an insulator support, a thimble adapted to receive an insulator thereon, and a supporting element for said thimble, said thimble being divided longitudinally into a plurality of sections, said sections being spaced from one another and from said element, means connecting the ends of each of said sections to said element, the connecting means at one end of said sections preventing longitudinal and rotational displacement of the sections on said element, and the connecting means at the other end of said sections preventing rotational displacement but permitting longitudinal movement.

3. In an insulator support, a thimble adapted to receive an insulator thereon, and a supporting element for said thimble, said thimble being divided longitudinally into a plurality of sections, an integra ly formed wall interconnecting said sections at one end of the thimble body, and overlapping walls provided on the other ends of said sections, said supporting element passing through said walls and being secured thereto against rotational displacement.

4:- In an insulator support, a thimble adapted to receive an insulator thereon, and a supporting element for said thimble, said thimble being made of sheet material and having a conical body divided longitudinally int-o a plurality of sections, said sections being connected to one another at one end of said thimble by an integrally formed wall and being provided at their other ends with overlapping portions, and said element passing through said overlapping portions and said integrally formed wall and being secured thereto against rotational displacement.

5. In an insulator support, a thimble adapted to receive an insulator thereon and a supporting element for said thimble, said thimble being divided longitudinally into a plurality of sections, each of which is supported at it sends on the supporting element, said thimble being provided with overlapping walls on at least one of its ends and said supporting element passing through said walls and being secured thereto against rotational displacement.

('3. In an insulator support, a thimble adapted to receive an insulator thereon and a supporting element for said thimble, said thimble being divided longitudinally into a plurality of sections, each of which is supported at its ends on the supporting element, said thimble being provided with overlapping walls on its lower end and said support ing element passing through said walls and being secured thereto against rotational displacement.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of January, 1928.

EDMUND WV. BRADY. 

